The BBC is to create an £18 million new digital Gaelic language service even though the audience for the channel is limited to 70,000 speakers.

MPs were given details of the service days after the corporation announced 1,800 job losses, including the BBC’s famous Natural History Unit in Bristol, which will lose one third of its programme-makers.

The Gaelic television channel will produce seven hours of programme material each day. James Purnell, the Culture Secretary, told MPs that the annual running costs were estimated to be £17.9 million.

In a Commons written reply, he said that the revenue costs for setting up the new channel were expected to be about £1.27 million and the total capital requirement was £1.5 million.

The figures are dependent on the outcome of the BBC Trust’s consideration of the proposals, which are subject to a “public value test”, as required under the BBC Charter.

Recent surveys have shown that the predominant second language in Scotland is Polish, followed by Urdu and Hindi then Gaelic, but the BBC has no plans to introduce a Polish language service.

The Gaelic channel will be the first new mainstream television channel from Scotland since the 1950s. It will feature drama, children’s programmes, minorty sports, car shows and news in Gaelic.

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